What if breastfeeding don't work? page 3

[Mud Flinger]

Some women's body's do not make milk properly. Be it diet or genetics, this is a fact. Saying stuff like the following just demonstrates ignorance.

formula-fed babies have lower intelligence than breast-fed babies

breastfeeding can't 'not work'

if you want a stupid kid, you give him formula.

Just do your best and use all the resources available. There is a lot of great advice in this thread, but please do not be so stuborn that you harm your child trying to be "perfect". Enjoy the miracle that a child is!

[sapphire_chan]

kellymom :: Breastfeeding and Parenting you'll want this website. kellymom.com :: Nursing your newborn -— what to expect in the early weeks is the part about new babies.

In the ordinary course of things, for a majority of women, breastfeeding is hardest during the first couple days, harder than using formula for the first 6 weeks, and then considerably easier than formula after that.

My own experience was quite easy, the one thing that would've helped us a lot would've been to do a lot more skin to skin time in the beginning. The hospital nurses wrapped my daughter up in a blanket and that made her extra sleepy and it took nearly a day to figure it out.

[dado]

Some women's body's do not make milk properly. Be it diet or genetics, this is a fact. Saying stuff like the following just demonstrates ignorance.



Just do your best and use all the resources available. There is a lot of great advice in this thread, but please do not be so stuborn that you harm your child trying to be "perfect". Enjoy the miracle that a child is!

if that woman can't produce the good milk, then she will feed formula and the child will survive, but he can't come close the child that was breastfed.

[Kace]

Kace, those stats may not be quite accurate (it used to be believed). Now we can add in the percentage who can't feed due to emotional trauma (caused by abuse). And in our western society, we have lost so much information on how to breastfeed, it is no surprise so many women don't get the breastfeeding relationship they want

Sorry, will remove that line from the above post - had no idea those figures were outdated. Thank you for letting me know.

[Danielle5690]

Some women's body's do not make milk properly. Be it diet or genetics, this is a fact. Saying stuff like the following just demonstrates ignorance.

Just do your best and use all the resources available. There is a lot of great advice in this thread, but please do not be so stuborn that you harm your child trying to be "perfect". Enjoy the miracle that a child is!

Dado is brutally blunt. Don't take it personally.

That's true, but IMO, it's much rarer than our western culture thinks it is. Breastfeeding problems are almost always a lack of support and knowledge at their root. I was blessed with wonderful support, and might have given up if I hadn't had it. But fighting through those first three really hard weeks were absolutely 100% worth it.

[Bron]

Danielle is correct. Most women can make milk and it's nutritionally perfect (even women in countries suffering famine can make nutritious milk) but the information and support around the mother can make all the difference. My own mother was 'only able to feed till I was 6 weeks old, then her milk dried up'. Now we know that was due to a combination of timed feeds, subbing with formula (the nurses would take the baby to the nursery and give a bottle overnight to 'let the mothers rest') and the natural changes that occur in both the baby and the mother at 6 weeks of age (baby goes through a faster brain development period, thus needing more fuel. The mother's hormonal systems change from endocratic to autocratic, and start making the milk as bub drinks, not ad hoc as it had from birth. Much more comfortable!)

[GoLisaGo]

In olden times people found a wet nurse for the child. That's what I did (my milk did dry up at 6 weeks, from a high power antibiotic I was given by the doctor), I was fortunate that my sister did not live too far away and she'd had a baby six month prior. Her milk was bountiful and rich. I like to think that my daughter and my sister share an extra special bond now too because of the experience.

[primat]

Just an update to this old thread:
Turned out breastfeeding worked fine, and our baby girl (3540gram/50cm) got nursed 13 times. However - my wife almost bled to death from low platelets due to acute promyelocitic leukemia. After the placenta detached the bleeding didn't stop and some extended bloodwork suggested leukemia. Bone marrow came back positive and we got rushed to chemotherapy.

It's a steep learning curve from having never held a baby to being almost a single dad, but it's not as hard as I thought. I'm feeding her Semper Profylac which is a hypoallergenic formula without soy and lactose, and she has gotten a few tastes of cod liver oil which she will get on a daily basis in a week or two.

I feel we're quite lucky; promyelocytic leukemia is rarely diagnosed between age 25 and 50 so she could have gotten a lot worse before it would have discovered had it not been for the bleeds. She had no symptoms of leukemia at all.

[bionicsamm]

What a crazy outcome! I wish your family well.

Making your own formula is a great option you can consider when you have time to think

[Bron]

Oh wow, that wouldn't have been any outcome you were considering! How very lucky your wife was able to be diagnosed. I hope she is much healthier now

Be aware that relactation is always an option, if your wife is feeling depressed about the time after the birth. It may even help heal some emotional trauma if she is feeling 'ripped off'.